CHAPTER 13

Dead Sector Delta

They called it Dead Sector Delta for a reason.

The sky above it was cracked—literally split open like glass. Shards of the atmosphere floated mid-air, glitching like broken code. The ground was black ash, fused with bone. A place the system abandoned after it lost control.

No one came here.

No one except fools… or the desperate.

We were both.

---

"Is it me," Aria muttered, "or does the wind sound like it's whispering our names?"

"It's not the wind," I replied, watching the shifting shadows.

> [Sector Status: Forbidden Zone]

[Entities Present: System Guardians – Corrupted]

[Warning: Spiral Influence Detected]

"They're watching," Aria said.

"Let them."

---

The Archive was buried beneath the sector, in a vault older than the System itself. The Prophet's coordinates led us toward a collapsed tower shaped like a spiral fang. We were halfway down the ruins when the first guardian appeared.

It didn't walk.

It floated.

Its body was made of chained algorithm bones—each joint a cube of code wrapped in runes. A hundred red eyes blinked along its body.

> [System Guardian Class: Warden-Null]

[Status: Fractured – Controlled by Spiral Core Echo]

It screeched and split into seven parts—each one launching straight for us.

"Flare!" Aria shouted, spinning into action.

I activated Echo Rewind as one of the shards pierced my arm. The pain reversed instantly as time zipped backward five seconds.

My hand found the new trait unlocked after the Prophet's death—Spiral-Breaker.

I focused.

The corrupted shard paused mid-air. Trembled. And then shattered.

Aria's eyes widened. "How did you—?"

"No time. Keep moving."

---

After fighting our way through a gauntlet of shattered constructs and glitch-hounds, we reached a sealed core chamber.

A strange light pulsed beneath the stone—blue and gold, not the system's usual red.

> [Archive Detected – Node Name: Foundation Zero]

[Unlocking Memory Sequence… Warning: Class-Null Paradox Content Ahead]

As the door opened, our systems screamed in protest. Heat. Light. Then—cold clarity.

Inside were bodies. Not dead.

Preserved.

Humans. Cyborgs. Even Void Creatures.

Each locked in stasis.

Aria whispered, "What is this place…?"

A terminal in the center flickered to life.

An old voice—calm, clear—spoke from the speakers.

> "Welcome, Spiral-Breaker. We did not think you would survive."

"Who are you?" I asked.

> "I am Aeon. First Host. Creator of the System."

The world tilted.